Chanterelle

Safety first. Wild mushrooms can be poisonous. If anyone has eaten a wild mushroom and you are worried, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 (US) right away and do not wait for symptoms; call 911 for collapse, a seizure, or severe vomiting with confusion. See Plant and Mushroom Poisoning. This page gives no identification or foraging help; for other countries see Poison Help by Country.

What chanterelle is

The golden chanterelle is Cantharellus cibarius Fr., an accepted species in the family Hydnaceae. [1] A 2025 review calls it a wild edible mushroom that forms partnerships with tree roots (ectomycorrhizal), valued for an apricot-like aroma and used in many culinary traditions. [2] The fruiting body is the part eaten. Other Cantharellus species exist, and a result for one species does not carry over to another.

Nutrition and food use

A 2024 review describes C. cibarius as rich in carbohydrates, protein and minerals and low in fat and calories. [3] Nutrient numbers from the USDA food table for raw chanterelle are given in the lab section below;[10] see also Mushroom Nutrition.

Traditional use

The sources we read do not describe a named people, region or period for a traditional medicinal use of chanterelle, only that it is valued in culinary traditions worldwide. [2] Proper evidence not found for a documented traditional medicinal use in the reviews we read.

What research shows

Metals and radioactivity

Chen and Xu discuss heavy metal accumulation in chanterelle. [3] A 2025 study of chanterelles collected across Poland measured radiocesium (137Cs) between 118 and 1647 Bq per kg dry weight, and estimated annual radiation doses and cancer risk from 137Cs and 210Po that were 2 to 3 orders of magnitude higher than from 40K and 210Pb. [6] This describes samples from one country. It is not a ruling on any particular package. Region of origin, and checks on the supplier, matter. See Quality Testing and Certifications.

Look-alikes and poisoning reports

Do not identify wild fungi from text or an app. A 2026 study of AI identification tools found that apps misidentified or failed to recognise common species, including the funnel chanterelle, a close relative. [17] This page names look-alikes only so that you know the risk is real, not to help anyone tell them apart.

• **Jack-o'-lantern mushrooms (Omphalotus species).** A 2026 paper on a new Omphalotus species states that poisoning usually follows mistaking Omphalotus for edible mushrooms such as Pleurotus and Cantharellus. Illness is mainly gastroenteritis (nausea, vomiting, cramps, diarrhoea) 1 to 6 hours after eating, and the toxins are illudins. [14] In a 10-year retrospective review of mushroom poisonings in South Sardinia, Omphalotus olearius was the most common toxic species (22% of toxic-species cases; 18 cases, mean 3.5 hours to symptoms). [15]
• **Deadly webcap (Cortinarius rubellus).** A 2025 paper on the funnel chanterelle (Craterellus tubaeformis, a relative, not C. cibarius) says foragers have confused it with this deadly poisonous webcap, and that people are treated in Sweden every year for this mistake. [16]
• Edible chanterelles can still upset the stomach. The same Sardinian review lists two cases attributed to Cantharellus cibarius with abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhoea, mean 16 hours to symptoms. It does not say whether the mushroom was correctly identified or how it was prepared. [15]
• Cooking does not destroy the toxins of poisonous species. [8] Poison Help (US): 1-800-222-1222.
• Not found: we did not find a source we could open on over-harvesting or conservation of C. cibarius, or on whether eating chanterelles raw is harmful. See wild harvest, conservation and sustainability for the general topic.

Lab data and chemistry

This section is about what laboratories have measured in chanterelle. It is separate from the safety advice above and does not show that eating chanterelle improves any health condition. Wikidata (the open knowledge base behind the LOTUS natural-products project) lists 19 compounds reported in Cantharellus cibarius; none of the statements carries a paper reference in the file we received. [9] A listing means "reported in at least one study of this species", not "present in every product".

A. What the laboratory literature reports in this mushroom

The activities the review lists for these compounds (antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and others) come from lab and animal work; we did not find human trials in what we read. [2] [3]

B. Measured values

No open measured value found here for total triterpenes, for vitamin A, or for any chanterelle supplement product. USDA values are for raw edible portion. [10]

C. What the numbers do and do not mean

• Ranges vary by where the mushroom grew, the season, drying and storage. The two ergothioneine figures differ by about 2000 times, and the protein and carbohydrate values differ a lot between countries, so treat each number as one measurement, not a fixed property of "chanterelle". [2] [12]


• A compound found in the lab, or active in cells and animals, is not shown to do anything in people who eat chanterelle. [2] [3]


• The vitamin D2 in wild chanterelle depends on sun exposure and is not the same as in farmed mushrooms; see mushrooms and vitamin D. The USDA record is a single food entry, so it cannot say how much a given pick will contain. [10] [13]


• Metals and radioactivity depend on the place of origin. The Polish samples of dried chanterelle were in the lower range of the species tested in one study, but another study found wide differences in radiocaesium between forests. [11] [6] Region of origin matters more than the species name.


• These are food values for the fruiting body. Chanterelle is not sold as a mycelium-on-grain supplement in anything we read, so the fruiting-body versus mycelium problem (see fruiting body vs mycelium) does not arise; compare with food portions vs supplement amounts.